LCD TV sales are booming thanks to the digital transition in the United States. With incredible adoption rates, prices are plumetting and LCD manufacturers are ramping up production to meet consumer demands.

Typical LCD substrate factories run billions of dollars; Samsung and Sony poured more than $2 billion into their 7th generation LCD facility capable of producing 50,000 panels per month. OLED carries a considerably lower production cost, though only a few companies worldwide possess the intellectual property and design patents to build OLED monitors and televisions.

The Sony XEL-1 was a small TV with a screen size of 11-inches and it sported a super thin profile of only 3mm thick. The other promises OLED panels give to TV fans are brighter colors and less power consumption thanks to no need for a backlight.

The catch with the Sony XEL-1 was the price; the tiny TV set retailed for around $1,700. In addition to the high cost Sony was only able to produce about 2,000 of the TVs each month because of the difficult and initial costly manufacturing process.

However, Sony's initial OLED TVs will not remain ultra-expensive forever. With a lower cost of production than LCD and cheaper transportation costs, OLED displays will eventually replace LCD the way LCD replaced CRT.

Indeed... Sony has been very gutsy with capital investment, in the days where that seems to be the number one thing that is hammering a lot of other technology companies (e.g. Fujitsu, Motorola, Samsung divesting themselves of their chip/fabrication divisions). Sony also plunked down significant sums for CMOS digital camera sensor fabs, and they are a serious player for CCD sensors. And it's not like it's the easiest markets for raising cash. If Sony can pull off all of these bets then several years down the line they might end up being the Samsung of a couple years ago -- i.e. Sony would be Sony again.